


Before the Angels Came

by Kasan_Soulblade



Series: Of Shattered Glass/These Warped Perspectives [16]
Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: And persistant, Assault, Bullying, Coping, Friends to family, Gen, Healing, Iselian character focus, Racism, because Lloyd is impatient, because it's the only way to wake a sleepy head, devout rest of sylvarant crew, impromptue soakings, life in Iselia, pagan lloyd, pre game focus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-16
Updated: 2014-03-27
Packaged: 2018-01-15 22:37:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1321789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kasan_Soulblade/pseuds/Kasan_Soulblade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the "Foundations of a Fall" arch.</p><p>The Goddess decreed for faithful there would be family, home, and hearth.  That the tranquility and joys of such were but a slice of heaven, a mortal's taste of the divine gifted to the devout.</p><p>But only when the Goddess decreed, all would be perfect in her own time.</p><p>Lloyd Irving wasn't one to wait around for anyone.  Especially for some wingy people upstairs to get their tail feathers in gear.  So he'd make his own family, and so determined made his own all resistance to the contrary.  He wove blessings out of the chaos of that making and was happy, in his time, not this Martel persons.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Cold Spot

**Author's Note:**

> A Raine Lloyd friendship fic. There will be others, Noishe, Genis, Colette, and Dirk will all get screen time as the bonds between Lloyd and his family get explored through one shots. Sylvarant focus, pre-regeneration. This archive will be pre game with minimal spoilers throughout.

Cold Spots

Hatred… it started as dislike at first. He grimaced as a stinging liquid was poured across his side, the pain jarred him out of his thoughts even as the adults babble around him lured him back in. It was scary, this cold angry lump in him, this building pit in his heart. It scared him, because he knew the gentle warmth of friendship, the fierce fires of love and paternal protection, everything that was good it seemed was warm and this spot of cold that was in so deep in a place that was always warm…. It scared him.

He shivered from fear from cold.

"Shh… It's alright son." A calloused hand patted his shoulder and he felt a bit of warmth surge through him.

Yet there was still that numbing scary cold.

There was a cold part of his heart, an icy part behind a wall. There was a twisted place where the cold had a sanctuary, where the ice had a home. It thrived in that small little nook, and no matter his dad's warmth, no matter the love, it would not be burned away. And he couldn't ignore it, couldn't fully grasp the warmth and be lost in it with the cold. It was like walking on a good day with an ice cube running down your back; it was a small ice cube but it was still there.

He hated that feeling, that cold angry feeling. He hated his hatred, but after what had happened he couldn't let go of it. He couldn't make himself not angry, he could not let go of this, not even after the pain went away.

Above him the adults talked, above him and through him they talked and didn't make sense.

"There's going to be a scar.'

"He's going to be alright then?"

"Would I be fretting about a scar if he weren't? I don't know how deep the blade went in, but from what I could see of Ivan's sword it wasn't that deep. What really worries me is how glossy the blade was, I think he dipped it in something foul before he ran Lloyd through. I've already dosed him for the toxins in his blood that I could detect, but I'm going to cover everything to be safe. My magic isn't fool proof after all."

"Ms. Sage… thank you for tending my boy, when can he come home?"

"A week." A woman said with calm authority gathered by years of experience. "He will be safe with me, but I fear for Genis."

"Aye, I'll gut that son of a bitch's son if I…"

"You'll be exiled at best executed at worse." There was a sad laugh; he never imagined someone could laugh sadly. "Oh Dirk, I can see where Lloyd gets it from! Here's what we'll do…"

The voices became whispers, and the hisses hurt and made the gash in his side hurt so he just closed his eyes and went to sleep.

X

Poor little child, he doesn't deserve this, he's been through enough already isn't not knowing enough?

Raine smiled as the bundle on her brother's bed stirred. Brown hair poked out from under the covers and small hands gripped the blankets. Glazed brown eyes were revealed as the cover went down; he looked at her shyly from the giant eye lid of wool, confused but not scared. It was an interesting reaction.

"Hello." Raine smiled at the boy brightly, she used the exact same voice that she would start her classes with. Not that he'd know, being what she called a "chronically late arrival".

"Hi Ms mean… err Ms. Sage…"

"Well that wasn't very nice!" She put her hands on her hips and favored him with a glare.

To her complete surprise he blinked and nodded. She would have expected some clowning, or an argument, or something… But he was obedient in her home even when he wasn't obedient in her class. It was probably the wound talking, the pain muffling his real personality.

"How are you feeling?"

"My side hurts." He said sadly, looked at something past her. "And I'm a little cold…"

"I'll get you another blanket."

He said nothing, only stared at her and looked around, but was eerily quiet. For someone who she knew was a chatter box, who she knew was antsy, the stillness, the quiet, were unnerving. Still he remained uncharacteristically meek and mild while she tucked him in with another blanket.

"Are you hungry?" She said at last, trying not to reveal how his lacks of enthusiasm, his lethargy, were scaring her. "Thirsty?"

"Un uh…" He slithered under the blankets. "I'm gunna sleep now Ms. Sage."

He had been sleeping the whole night; it was mid-day right now! But perhaps that's what he needed to heal. Despite her show of knowledge she knew little. Oh she could tend scraped knees, and small cuts, colds, flu's, and various other small calamities, but this was her first battle wound.

But then it was his first too.

X

"That boy is a murderer, he hurt my Ivan and…"

"Erick." Raine glared at the man, he'd ambushed her in the market place while she was buying what she needed. She had little doubt that this was how Genis felt when the man's son strolled up behind her and pounced. Still she was no child, and Ivan was only using words, not blows. Logic aside… the experience was still an unsettling one. Grimly she faced him, a basket in one hand, the long handle clutched in one hand, the other hand pinned to her hip. She busied her hands so no one could see how they were shaking. "Your _son_ has a black eye and a bruise on his arm, it's sore, but it's not going to kill him. I on the other hand had to treat a near fatal sword wound from your son. If you want a murderer then look at the boy under your roof and leave the boy under mine alone."

There was a murmur of anger from the crowd, a tension that all but screamed, "how dare a tainted blood elf challenge the human mayor of Iselia!".

"That boy is a menace, he provoked the fight…"

"You lying-" Raine sputtered, and then dropped her voice to a whisper. "You listen to me." She dropped the basket and snatched the man by the front of his tunic. "Your son attack my Brother, then he nearly killed my Brother's friend, and unless you want me to bring Lloyd out and show just how bad those wounds your boy inflicted on him in front of the whole town you will be quiet and leave us _alone_."

He fell silent, knowing that if his son was branded as violent now he would never have a chance at making the Mayor-ship latter on, thus guaranteeing an easy retirement and life for himself.

He sneered, brushed off her hand, and took a step back.

"I find it funny, a foul breed, a tainted blood, is taking care of another of their kind."

"Lloyd's human," She grumbled picking up the basket. "And he is our friend."

"Raised by a tainted blood, coddled by tainted bloods, he is a tainted blood, not one of us."

Raine stared at the Mayor who bowed mocking to her.

"Take care of him well Ms. Sage, he’s all yours.'

Then he left, he left her alone and went to his home. She had won, he had left, and she was safe. Yet never had victory tasted like defeat.

X

"How are you feeling?" Raine asked while Lloyd faithfully spooned up the chicken soup that Phadria had brought for them both for dinner.

"My side doesn't hurt as much Ms. Sage." Lloyd said quietly, he took another bite. "And Phadria's cooking's really really good."

"Is it, well I asked the recipe from her so I'll give it a try tomorrow."

"Oh, that'll be nice…" Lloyd coughed something into the soup, a word that sounded like 'not' but she did not call him out on it.

"You didn't answer me, how are you feeling?"

"My side hurts a little less." Lloyd repeated himself, stared at her with troubled dark eyes. "And I'm a little cold."

He shouldn't have been. Lloyd was wrapped in ever blanket in the house, scooted as close to the fire as she dared move the bed, her mana gently coaxing his small body to produce more heat. He should not have been cold. As a matter of fact he was showing physical signs of being hot. Sweating, a flush around the face.

"Are you cold, really?" She gave him a long look and went redder, stared at the floor.

"Yes."

"Why are you embarrassed to say that? If you're cold I'll ask Phadria to lend us some blankets, but you don't look cold."

"I'm cold, but not a brrr it's cold cold. I'm cold here." He wormed out an arm from under the covers and touched his chest.

"Your heart is cold?" Raine frowned in confusion, concern.

He said nothing, only looked at her and burst into tears. Startled she put down her food and went to him, held him until the tears ran out.

It took a long time.

X

"What's wrong?"

"My side hurts and…"

"Lloyd," her fingers were ticklin' his head, petting him. "What's wrong?"

"I'm cold."

"Your heart?"

"It's cold and I can't make it not cold." He sniffled into her chest, she smelled like ink and dust. It was a funny smell.

"Tell me about your heart cold."

"Well it doesn't have the sniffles, like a cold cold… but it is cold and it makes me cold when I think 'bout…"

"About?"

"It's a secret." He whispered, looked into the dark behind his eyes to avoid her gaze.

"Lloyd, if you keep it a secret then I can't help you."

"But it's a secret and I promised… but it's a special secret that I don't know if I should tell someone else…" Lloyd scrunched up his small face in deep thought. "So how 'bout this, I'll tell you so you can tell me if I should tell you?"

The silver haired elf's lips twitched real funny like.

"Alright, that sounds like a marvelous idea."

"See I can be smart like you and Genis sometimes."

"I guess you can be."

She petted his head.

"Now will you tell me?"

He took a deep breath and sighed, then looked at her for a long time and then at long last nodded. And he told her, everything.

X

Raine stared at the boy, not quiet believing as he literally told her everything. From the verbal attacks that Ivan constantly hurled upon him, to the fist fights, to the fact that he had even began saving his brother long long ago. He told her of his home and a little of being raised by a dwarf, he told he of wild rides on a dog's back and a sad stone in the shadow of a house. Lost in shadow it was meant to be forgotten.

It was not forgotten, never forgotten, never forsaken, despite how it was supposed to be.

So many "supposed to be's" and one fall had destroyed them all.

He missed his mother and went outside to talk to her because she could never come in. He missed his human father and he would never come home.

He was home and yet never home, loved and yet missed.

And he was cold, there was a cold place where all of that missing and hurt went and was forgotten.

But never forsaken, he could not forsake the cold because he would forsake the warm as well.

And it was making him cold, that cold steel sword had breached the wall and some of the cold was coming out now, coming into him, and it was making him scared.

She recalled her own cold places, glimpsed flashes of memory, her holding a child in her arms and begging on the street, begging to be let in. Of cooking a meal through wails and sobs of a baby, a baby that was not her own yet _was_ her own. Her brother Genis, there had been so many cold nights, alone, yet not alone. His cries her only companion, a comfort and a pain.

There was a place, a shadowed place where she was supposed to forget and not remember.

A stone monolith that was wreathed in shadows, it was meant to be forgotten, and sometimes despite the warmth of passion that the ancient relics brought her there was a finger of ice under it all too.

"I think." She said as she held him, as his telling had made him cry again. "I understand about cold heart spots Lloyd. I think we all have them sometimes." Raine tilted his face up and looked up at him. "It's easy to hide them, stuff them in a closet and make them not there anymore. But you want to know what?"

"What?" He looked at her in wonder.

"No matter how cold it is, you bring that ice out into the sun and eventually it'll melt, I just takes time. And then you want to know what's fun about the left over cold water?"

"What?" He looked at her, so earnest and serious it took a lot not smile.

"You put it in a bucket and you take it to someone who makes you mad and dump it on their heads."

He laughed and she smiled, stroked his head, and as he cuddled against her she was able to show to the darkness how relieved she was that he was acting a little more like himself.

X

Months passed, the wound healed and she was startled one day to find it was snowing. It was a thin snow, a skin of cold white, and she decided to cancel classes so the children could run about in it. She though studied the cold and made lessons around it, made plans and lectures as she watched the fluffy flakes fly.

She was startled when Lloyd came in, willingly carrying a bucket. There was two firsts. One where he had come to class when there was none, and second where he was not holding a bucket against his will.

"Hi Professor Sage!" He grinned at her, and set the bucket of snow and ice by the fire.

"Lloyd, what in Martel's name are you doing?"

"Nothing?" He grinned, and she knew he was lying. "OK something, something dumb, but not dangerous dumb."

"Another prank Lloyd?” She sighed but smiled at exhalations end. “I suppose as long as it's not me or Genis that you soak then I won't protest just this once."

He grinned and gave her the shock of her life.

"Why'd I soak my Aunt, that's really mean and I don't think families do that sort of thing do they?"

"Not to my knowledge… Wait… Aunt?"

"Aunt." He said simply. "You like an Aunt to me so… umm it's a little late but can I start calling you Aunt, in private?"

"I don't know what to say…” She blushed, startled by this, certainly he was over stating his feelings or something. "I'm not… not by blood so…"

"So what? Sometimes blood doesn't matter, right? I mean Dad's a dwarf but I'm not short or anything. Doesn’t mean he’s _not_ Dad?"

Raine stared at Lloyd for a long long moment, he was what, twelve? Certainly this was just childish words coming out with little meaning.

"I guess it doesn't."

"Great!" He smiled and picked up the bucket.

"Lloyd… what are you doing with that?"

"I'm gunna dump some ice water on Ivan."

"That's nice…" She said absently, wondering if he had meant it, about the Aunt comment that was. "You go ahead and do that."

"Really, thanks, you're the best Aunt ever… I'll see you tomorrow Professor!"

"Yes… we'll be doing a lesson on…"

The door slammed shut behind Lloyd as he all but ran from her lecture.

Less than five minutes later there came a very feminine scream, the pounding of feet, and other heralds of discontent.

"IRVING! YOU GET BACK HERE YOU FREAK!"

"Not a chance Ivy boy!"

"I'M GUNNA SKIN YOU ALIVE YOU FREAK! GET…BACK…Here…" Ivan drifted across her window, he was panting up a storm as he leaned against the wall of the school building. "Damn you, you little bastard I'll skin everyone you and your family alive."

"Let it go Son, he's gone for now."

The mayor's voice, she shrank back into her chair despite herself, shook at the hate in Erick's voice.

"Little bastard." Ivan hissed. "Martel Damned little runt…"

"It's his dwarven taint boy, he can't help it."

Ivan snorted. "I can beat it out of him, first he beat me up for attacking the runt, then he pulls out some crap about me not having honor for fighting his little brother instead of him, then he dunks me. He's a Moon-Touched if I ever saw one."

"Aye," Erick draped a hand over Ivan's shoulders. "And he's not ours to deal with yet, he can coddle the point ears all he likes, eventually it'll get him in some bad spot, just in Martel's time. Then you can finish what you started, just wait boy, right time'll come."

They drifted off, and Raine recalled the tales and the promise and the most recent words from Lloyd's mouth.

The fear went away, the cold fear in her heart went away under the rush of warmth and she felt calm enough to go back to watching the snow fall.

Perhaps being an Aunt was no so bad a thing, there was worse family to have then Lloyd Irving.

She smiled fondly at the image of Lloyd dunking Ivan from behind, she laughed, and decided that that was enough lessons for one day.


	2. Tear Intellegencer

Tear Intelligencer

"What's the matter baby?" A hand shoved him into the earth. He grunted, caught himself and resisted the urge to cry in pain as his knees scraped against unyielding earth. "Gunna cry?"

_Don't ever give them that satisfaction; don't ever let them see you cry because if you give them what they want they'll only come back for more._

Wiping his face he managed to stand, he quietly picked up what he'd dropped, a book and some papers, and those safely tucked under his arms he went on his way.

X

That was life, walking around and being shoved. Sometimes being hit, but mostly it was being shoved. That was life, life because he had pointy ears and was different from everyone else. If he wasn't short, if he didn't have those horrible pointy ears they'd leave him alone wouldn't they? While logic said yes because it answered all their taunts and made _them_ lose the ability to throw their words in his face something in him said no. They'd never stop, there would always be a difference, even if he couldn't see it there would be a difference between him and them. He had always wondered what that difference was until he'd met someone who knew the ins and outs of bullies, having been where he'd been once before. His friend, his _human_ friend, had given him an insight a small crumb of comfort. There was a difference between him and _them_ , _they_ were jerks, _they_ were the jerks and he wasn't. It was a small comfort, a thin comfort, and he'd take all of those he could.

X

"Hey Genis, what's up?"

Genis let his lips curl in a smile, dropped his sulky guarded expression and smiled for the first time since recess started. He looked up and Lloyd looked down at him. Legs wrapped around a thick branch, brown hair hanging over his rounded pink ears but pointing to the ground the human of sixteen smiled despite hanging from a branch upside down. Or maybe Lloyd smiled because he was hanging upside down, who knew with Lloyd?

"You are, up in a tree."

"Why do you have to be so liborrol?"

"Literal Lloyd, the proper pronunciation of the word is literal."

"Pro-non-sense-ate-shin?"

"Nevermind!"

"So watch ya doing?"

"I am wondering if your poor pronunciation and your sub-par intellectual ability are contagious."

"Huh? Ok I didn't understand that so it had to be a sneaky dumb joke right?"

"Yep." Genis grinned and Lloyd laughed.

"Well I didn't get it, but I got it."

"Un huh… which of course means…"

"-in one ear out the other."

They both said the last together, it was after all an old joke, ancient even, well as ancient as anything could be between an adolescent and a child.

"Bored bored bored…" Lloyd swayed on the branch, rocked back and forth, the motion made his hair sway with the rest of him. "I wanna go fishing but it takes too long."

"Well I want to conduct an experiment on the…."

"Whoa whoa, no experiment talk! You know I can't even follow your lectures any better than I follow Raine's!"

"Oh, sorry I forgot."

"You just get caught up in stuff so of course you forget little things like how dumb I am." Lloyd yawned and stretched. "It's so warm and quiet… I could take a nap."

"Upside down?"

"I've napped in weirder places." Lloyd shifted around a little, then suddenly his eyes flared open, seemed to absorb everything they saw. "What's really going on Genis, really?"

Genis blinked, startled by the intensity of Lloyd's voice and stare.

"N… nothing…"

"Un huh, and Noishe's a rabbit who thinks he's a dog."

"With those ears you never know." Genis grinned, and Lloyd did not return it, only gave him a long hard look that was older then both their years combined.

"Ivan huh?"

"Of…" Genis blushed at Lloyd's "I'm not Raine trust me OK" glare. "Yeah, Ivan, you know how it is."

"Do you wanna know how it is, really?" Lloyd grumbled to the air. "It sucks. He kicks my butt when we fight now so he thinks it's alright for him to go after yours."

Genis grimaced, recalled just how bad what Lloyd called "getting his butt kicked" really had been.

"So what'd the bastard do this time?"

And that was all that was needed to get Genis to start talking, and for the stinging behind his eyes to grow and bud into full blown tears. He cried a bit as he talked, he could cry now that he was safe.

Lloyd knew where Genis had been, was still there himself, and for someone normally dumb he was pretty smart in this. It was Lloyd's advice he followed when he got shoved and knocked around by people twice his size. It was that advice that kept him from getting shoved around a lot less.

It was the advice Lloyd learned first-hand when he had done all the wrong things before learning the right.

 _You never gave them what they wanted_ , that was the first rule and the second…

_Have someone you trust to talk to._

Genis gulped, wiped his eyes though he smiled while he did so. Lloyd was now cussing out Ivan, something that Genis didn't have the guts to do. Lloyd was brave enough for the both of them, handed out bravery and listening, and said what needed saying even when no one else wanted to. Normally it was a bad thing, especially when he yelled "boring!" one day in history, but here it was good.

"When'd you get so smart?"

"What? Did you just call me smar… ahhh!"

Lloyd he lost his grip and slid from the tree and landed right on his head.

"Oww…"

Genis laughed. "I meant dumb, if there was any hope that you were smart now it's as gone as your brains!"

"Shut up!" Lloyd dragged himself to his feet nursed his aching skull. "That's so it! You, are gunna get dunked!"

"You and what army?" Genis stuck his tongue out.

Snarling a few words Lloyd ran after Genis, laughing the young wizard summoned spans of ice and Lloyd Colette-stepped all the way back to Iselia.

 


	3. Alien Dreams

Alien Dreams

He sighed, hunting, running, flying, it got confused in his minds at moments of sleepiness. Sometimes he dreamed that he had wings, other times he had hands, and once ever blue moon -and he meant that in the most literal sense- he dreamt he had fins. During those dreams images of tartar sauce and lemon slices on the side seemed to pop into his mind... Or worse yet a bowl, being put on some adolescent human's table in a tiny little bowl to spend a time shard of his eternity swimming around and around and getting nowhere.

He'd woken up screaming from those set of dreams, and his cries would send the red clad swordsman out of his bed, tromping down a flight of stairs, and running outside to comfort him no matter what. It was nice to know that despite not being human that humans could care for him, he'd found that first with the black clad winged one, and now continued to find that comfort and comradely with that creature’s progeny.

Warm, agile, forepaws... No, hands, they were called 'hands'… brushed away the wet tracks running from his eyes. He sniffled, but the tears had stopped now and wouldn't be back for a while.

"There, better?"

"Whine..." He wagged his tail halfheartedly. It would never be better, these maybe, likely, past dreams of his. Not fully. But Lloyd wouldn't quite understand that would he?

"One of these days Noshy I bet you'll tell me what these dreams are about."

Images of wings and fins faded in the back of his mind, he whined and licked Lloyd's face. The chaos of his existence settled for a little and he remembered that he was in his large lupine form. All his late night confusion fell before one crystal clear thought.

_You're not going to be around though when that happens, you'll be dead before I even spend on second in my next form, probably centuries in your grave._

He had to wonder again at the _other’s_ sanity when he decided to be a father. When the _other_ had mated with the brown haired girl it had only seemed to be fun and games to the Protozoan... Certainly there was affection between them -all good matings were like that, filled with affection- but to have offspring? Madness, madness to the eternal, to watch one's child grow old and die, to watch ones children and grandchildren and great grandchildren fade away into death.

All clear and coherent thought went out the window when Lloyd found the 'spot' the wonderful glorious spot that demanded he lift a paw and start scratching... Ohh that felt good!

"Now I bet you're feeling a little better eh Noshy?"

Noishe sighed in bliss as those agile hands went under his chin and scritched.

"Bark!"

"Scoot fur ball." Lloyd pushed him into the pen and then squirmed his way in. What in Origin's name was the boy...?

Lloyd sat down in the pen, drew one of his wooden swords and Noishe stared at him in confusion.

"You think I'm gunna go to bed when some monster's just waiting for me to leave so it can scare you again?" Noishe sighed, Lloyd would never in a million years comprehend. Still the company was nice. "Don't sigh at me, Dad won’t mind, and if he does well... I don't care so there."

Lolling his tongue out in mute laughter Noishe wagged his tail. Never in _two_ million years would Lloyd figure it out, after all this was the boy who was still having trouble with his multiplication tables. Even Noishe, a "dog", knew what twelve by twelve was. He folded his legs under him, curled and Lloyd snuggled against him, sword still in hand.

"Don't worry Noishe, I'll keep all the monsters away, I promise."

In that, Noishe did not doubt Lloyd in the least.

"'Night Noshy!"

"Bark!"

And there was nothing more to be said between them till dawn.


	4. A riddle... of sorts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have the answer to this riddle, but I'm going to stall on posting the answer until the 18th as I'm curious if any can guess...

Sleeps sleep sleep sleep... that's all that's ever done around here! Well it's time to wake up, yes I said wake up, now little one!

"Not now"

That's how it is, is it?

Well that's how it never is around here, and you best get used to it.

It's time to get up, and if you don't right now I'll make you!

Oh... someone's getting superior, a little smug, a little arrogant. It's time to knock you down a peg. I said get up, you _will_ get up, that's the rule, get used to it.

Ha, not liking that bed without the blankets! Thought you'd trick me again by stuffing them under you? I only fell for that once and my tactic to making you get up still works like a charm.

Approve?

Well approve or not it's always worked since day one, now that you’re awake there's a lot to do today and...

No, don't you dare go back to bed!

That's it! Time for another tactic, and know you've only brought this onto yourself.

Oh, now comes the begging for forgiveness?

Live and learn Lloyd, live and learn. You should have just gave in and listened the first time.

The water will be cold so early in the morning, let's find out how cold. You can get soaked and tell me all about it...

Yes, now that sounds like a good idea!

Come on, no running, that's the way. See, you should have just been this obedient first time around.

What am I going to do with you little one?

Oh, _now_ you kick and thrash.

 _Now_ you see where we are going. But being stronger than you does have its quirks.

That and having a death hold on your belts.

Come along Lloyd, come along, cold water soakings for no one -well unless it's winter I guess- and we mustn't let that water get too warm!

It's done, now fully saturated you chatter your teeth and yell at me.

It's not "fair", well let me tell you listening to your snoring hardly counts as fair!

Now that you're up we have much to do, places to go and...

How stubborn _can_ you get?

You go get another set of clothes and swear to go to bed...

And you just locked me out of your room, _that_ does it!

When I get this door open you are in for the soaking of a millennium, you hear me?!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well the summary should be self explanatory, a flash fic to answer the flash fic riddle from before..

An answer

 

"Whiiine…"

"No!" Lloyd curled into a ball and tucked all the blankets around him in a shell to ward off his dog's secret "if puppy eyes fails" trick. "I don't wanna go to school Noishy."

There was a creek, the bed tilted under a massive weight being added to it, and a black shape blotted out most of the light that streaming through the fabric. Something pointed, cold, and wet, poked at the blanket and sniffed loudly.

"Blanket shield beats nose!" Lloyd chirped, secure in his safety. "You lose Noishy, let me go to bed now!"

"Bark!"

If a bark could mean "no" then the answering loud bark meant "No! Never!".

"Well you can't puppy eye and you can't nose me, so you lost Noishy. You can go back to your room and wait for Mr. Dirk to come and bring you some chicken for breakfast."

"Bleh!"

Lloyd pulled the covers away from his face to see Noishe loll his tongue out and look disgusted.

"You ate all the jerky last night." The eight year old Lloyd said with a grin. "You were a pig."

"Whiiine!"

"Were too."

"Whine bark!"

"Were too!"

"WHiiinE!"

"Were too were-too-were-toooooo!"

"Woof…" Noishe rolled his eyes, but his tail wagged. Knowing what that meant Lloyd quickly ducked into his shell while Noishe sniffed around the edges of the blanket sometimes thrusting with his head to get Lloyd to squeak and roll to the side to avoid the attack.

Grinning, Noishe firmly herded his charge out from under the blanket and announced his victory by lolling out his tongue and licking the boy's vulnerable back.

"Ewww… Ick, now I need a bath Noishy!"

Happy to comply –after all little human's didn't smell all that great anyways- the dog nipped the boy's pants by the waist and carried the squirming human outside.

It was perhaps halfway down the stairs that Lloyd realized exactly what was going to happen.

"Nooo I'll be good Noishy! I will, I promise! Don't make me take a bath!"

It was only a few moments later, despite all the thrashing and cries for help that Lloyd was let go of, right into the clear cold waters of a stream.

"Bad doggie!"

Noishe only lolled his tongue out and wagged his tail with glee

 


End file.
